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Athletes at Mizzou are in a special position. for a window of years while in college, they capture our hearts and imaginations with strength, skill and grace. They inspire Tiger fans to cheer and chant, filling arenas, stadiums and parking lots with echoes of M-1-Z, Z-0-U! Some go on to high-profile professional athletic careers - such as *Unas Kleiza, AFNR 'os, of the N'BA's Denver Nuggets or **Justin Gage, AFNR '03, of the NFL's Tennessee Titans. Many, however, spend a majority of their careers involved in non-athletic endeavors. For five Tigers spread across five decades, their career paths could not be more diverse.
STORY BY MARCUS WilKINS
38 II1Utl SUMMER 200, z Gridiron disciple n his playing days, Larron j;.ckson was a 6·fOOt·3. 25r pound behemoth who opened space 0 for Mh:.zou running backs. Almost 40years !Jter, he still leads with his strength. l/) Afte.r grJdu;~ting from MU, Jackson went on to earn his doctorate at United Theological I j ~m inary in Dayton, Ohio. He founded hnernational Agape Ministry in 1992. 1t helps churches ~ j optimize resources toward assisting the community, orwhJt he calls ..s trategic planning." In "' May 2007, )
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Vl UJ ·o l!) 0. ... < ... "w 0 < l:...... "' H w "z Bridges to success ~ ,.. "Ill ... iger (;ans remember J,rince Bridges ;as the slick-passing. athletic point gu~rd who 0:: .,< "0 u;~nsfcrrN from Tyler (T~s} junior College to Mb;z.ou In 1981 Mi.s.sourl )(U.rtd all the .," (.) w~y to No. 1 ln the polls that se.uon. while Bridges dished .uslsts to scoring ltgends co ... < T Ill ::E md Jon Sum'Oid, BS BA '8]. .. Steve StiP"nO\ich, 8£$ ·s,. .. 0 l: Briel~ now owns tht lusk 401111111 SUMMER 2009 UJ Thole's goals .....J "0 "'~ s Mlz.tou soccer's Jll·time le.,ding scorer. Nikki Thole has ample t.xperic •~ce pursuing > gools. Now she spends much of her time helping St. Louis youngsters Jchieve theirs. "IU 0 0 "IU As sports super.,isor (or the city of Des Peres, t..to .. since 2005. Thole runs youth 0 .. A 0 0 ::> spons leagues and clinics. and some adult kicl SUMMER 2009 IIIZIII41 MISSOURI BASEBALL Vl Charley the champion LU D 0 harle.s Wesley J<~mes W<.lS a nvo-sport standout during his playing days at MU. but most z ~ 0 people remember a more glamorous highlight on hJs athletic resume- il World Series < < ~ championship. ~ ~ C ~ .... "'... After an injury forced James to pursue baseball instead of football. the hard-hitting out· < z z <( w 0 fielder signed a minor-league conttact with the Houston Buffaloes in the spring of 1958. He "'w "' u ... was playing for Charleston, W.Va .. in the American Association when he re 421 111!81 SUMMER 2009 now7 Tiger in the tundra "0 riginally from rural Moose Lake, Minn., Dianne Berg was inducted into the MU VI VI Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 1007. After earning her doctora.te in counseHng psychology from the Univers-ity of ..."' 0 0 Illinois, Berg joined the Program in Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota in 2001. a! VI It is an outpatient spccialty Berg and her partner, Suzy Messerole. have 01. •·year·old daughter named Solvei. "She's very into art. She gets her sdssors and paper, makes collages attd then tells us 0 what she's made,'" Berg says. ~shr goes through tape Like you wouldn't btlieve." 1!1 '--' \ , • , t I \• , •, t• •I ' ' ''\ ' ''I • \ ', ' , "'• • ', '• ' '' '• 1 HAH .. S 10 fHl f0tl0WIIol(; f0. (0HII II\ITIH(; 10 looll$ $101'1' ! I U•t A.UITtM , lolt '01 • 1 a 1 ' $.011MJC:Itl, It tO '71 • IJIMI I OitMA.H, I$ CO ' 61, ""' (0 • • • ,tOO'))· JO"M .AOUC, l i 10 'iJ, M 10 '51 · GA. . Y tiNa , I SlA '7 4 • .....,.I MUM, M lO '6t • JOH lt,IMV0tO, li 14 ' I) SUMMER 2009 1111.11143